1.0 (A22) Dev Diary Overflow

[Matt115]

18 hours ago, meganoth said:

 

It could be that solar cells were only added to the trader (a looong time ago) to have a sink for the stacks of dukes everyone has in end game. If yes, it is obviously working for some of you. So just get more dukes instead of suggesting they get removed

 

 

 

Well number of dukes doesn't matter too much in this situation - why? Because it's hard to find them for sales. So - i will compare with vehicles : if you can much easier find 1 4x4 which you need one while you need few solar cells while even have avalible on trader is hard.  So - price is not problem here just too low chances to get it

[Riamus]

4 hours ago, FranticDan said:

I don't think it is humanly possible to press spacebar short enough to cause the character to not do a full jump, even with maxed parkour, you will still do a full 3m jump by tapping spacebar . I guess this could be tested with a program that presses a button for you and have the spacebar pressed for 0.01 seconds, and see what happens. I don't have such a program.

 

Not currently, no.  However, there are games where tapping the spacebar does a normal jump and holding it does a "long" jump, so it could be programmed that way.  But making that kind of change means relearning how to jump (breaking their muscle memory) for people who have been playing this game for many years and that's not ideal.

 

3 hours ago, meganoth said:

I remember that I could make lesser jumps with parkour perked up by hitting space only for a very short time.

 

Maybe this has changed because I've never been able to do this since starting in A20.

[Riamus]

3 hours ago, meganoth said:

 

At what day would you have a full solar bank if you didn't care about highest quality?

 

 

In A21, fully loaded with any tier cells?  Day 80-100, usually.  I usually have money for 6 low tier cells when I first start seeing the banks in traders around day 20-30 (I'm on 120min days, so double this for 60min days).  By day 40, I would usually have enough for a full set of tier 6 cells if I could find them.  And by day 50, at least two fully loaded banks with tier 6 cells.  In A20, when you could actually find cells to buy, I'd no longer use generators except in specific locations like my horde base before day 40 most of the time.  I'll point out that if I want to complete all 5 traders through tier 5 very quickly, I could get a fully loaded solar bank from tier 5 rewards in less time with tier 3-4 cells (I think that's still a valid reward at tier 5 in A21), but that requires doing a ton of questing to do that and then choosing only solar rewards.  I'd rather the option to buy them, with perhaps taking one tier 5 solar reward earlier in the game to get started.

 

Now, based on your question, I assume the real question is "How soon do you think you should be able to be using solar in a game?" and I think the answer to that is "As soon as you level up to start seeing them in the traders and have enough money for them."  If they want it to be later game, they should unlock at traders later.  That would be significantly better than never finding them at traders the way it is in A21.

 

There are 2 reasons why I use solar instead of generators and both are simply convenience.  First, it's so I don't have to constantly refill the generators, especially when you either have to top them off every time you return to base or else try to remember to randomly top them off before the run out or else refill them once they stop working.  With no warning indicator of any kind that you're running low on gas, it's just something I don't enjoy dealing with.  If you could wire a yellow/orange/red warning light that would turn on when you were under 25% fuel, it wouldn't be so bad, but you can't.  The second is so that if I do run out of gas, I don't have to worry about whether or not my automatic doors function.  Driving back to base and having your doors not open and having to go use some alternate manual door to get in so you can refill the generator so you can drive into your base/garage is also something I don't enjoy.  Solar takes away the hassle of dealing with those things.  It costs more and takes more space and requires certain placement to function and requires more banks than generators for the same power and I'm willing to pay those extra costs to have hassle free electricity.  That's how it should work.  As I mentioned, it isn't really about saving on gas because gas is extremely easy to get once you are that far into the game.  At least, as long as there is a desert with shale.  Spend 15 minutes mining and you can make a lot of gas and you're also getting a bunch of sand for your needs at the same time.  Yes, mining takes more time than refilling the generators, but mining is an activity and not just a chore in my view.

Edited March 4 by Riamus (see edit history)

[zztong]

7 hours ago, meganoth said:

I remember that I could make lesser jumps with parkour perked up by hitting space only for a very short time.

 

The code could conceivably measure the time between the SPACE DOWN event and the SPACE UP event to determine how high to attempt to jump. The time of the events would just be some subtraction. If you get a user who wants to hold the space bar down for a long time you might get odd game situations. Maybe in that case a programmer might run a timer, but that's maybe out there a bit. Another approach would be to make the SPACE DOWN also lead to some kind of crouch and it would take the SPACE UP to "release" the jump.

 

I can see why they might just "jump" on a SPACE DOWN and leave it at that.

 

How quickly a user can trigger subsequent SPACE DOWN event is a mix of user talent and keyboard quirks, or a willingness to use software to send events.

Edited March 4 by zztong (see edit history)

[zztong]

9 hours ago, meganoth said:

At what day would you have a full solar bank if you didn't care about highest quality?

 

7 hours ago, BFT2020 said:

For me, solar cells won't have a chance to show up in the trader stock until around Day 45 to Day 50 if I average one level up per day for character and gotten to Tier 4 on the quests.  But the key word here is chance to be in trader stock.  Solar cells (in the Electrical group) only have a 1% chance of being picked and the general traders have 5 to 10 picks from that group.  Trader Bob has 10 to 20 picks from the electrical group.

 

I was trying to narrow it down to some value between 30 and 60. I want to say a Solar Bank shows up far earlier than when I can get Solar Cells. If quality 1 and 2 solar cells were showing up with it, that would be useful to me, even if the solar bank isn't full.

 

There are early game applications that are possible with a solar bank a couple of batteries and a single low quality solar cell. I mean, a light on a switch in the work room comes to mind.

 

EDIT: Oh, I confused Solar Bank with a Battery Bank. I'd say BFT2020's estimate is closer. I'll say 45-60.

Edited March 4 by zztong (see edit history)

[Vaeliorin]

1 hour ago, zztong said:

How quickly a user can trigger subsequent SPACE DOWN event is a mix of user talent and keyboard quirks

The real limiting factor on how quickly you can jump is how quickly you land.  I can't imagine anyone so slow at spamming space that they couldn't immediately jump again after landing.

[meganoth]

18 hours ago, Riamus said:

 

Maybe this has changed because I've never been able to do this since starting in A20.

 

Sigh, another day, another test run

[Vaeliorin]

By the by, I've definitely encountered the hop phenomenon before.  In my mind it happens when I don't fully depress the space bar, but I've never tested it or anything.  Even with maxed parkour it was less than a full unperked jump.

[meganoth]

10 hours ago, meganoth said:

 

Sigh, another day, another test run

 

And I was wrong. I could not do a "small" jump.

 

Edited March 5 by meganoth (see edit history)

[Jugginator]

On 3/2/2024 at 11:18 AM, spud42 said:

A21 has perk/magazine crossovers that need to be sorted out for A22. with the cooking magazines the master chef perks are redundant and a waste of points.  Its the same with grease monkey i havent put any points into it and i am only 10 magazines away from building a gyro.  the amount of points to max strength and then grease monkey are better spent elsewhere. I suppose it gives the player a choice . is there any overhaul of the magazine /perk duplications in A22?

 

 

Well, there are other benefits to those perks. Master Chef lets you cook faster (and use less of the main ingredients, which I admit isn't the most beneficial in the world, but it's a benefit), and Grease Monkey reduces crafting part costs (again, small benefit), but also lets you repair with less repair kits and faster, which is a great bonus (think: vehicle breaks down in the wasteland and you have Grease Monkey, you repair a lot more a lot faster instead of having to repair multiple times).

[spud42]

maybe my play style is different but i find those unnecessary. i only needed 1 dew collector, i have so much meat in storage i wont use it all. i have a stack and more of "yellow" water...lol i have a stack of 70 eggs i dont need now i have 100 magazines in food/cooking . im on day 106 of this playthrough and all i really want to acomplish is getting the last 8 vehicle books so i can make a gyro. once i do that it explore the entire map and finished... i have a Teragon map waiting for the next start.

 

cooking faster or needing less resources isnt really an issue. start cooking then go loot , dinner is ready when i get home...lol

 

 

[Izmail]

Hello everyone, guys. I understand that here we are talking mainly about 22 alphas, I would like to go a little into the future of the alpha in which bandits will appear. The question is, when bandits are introduced into the game, will neutral and friendly NPCs appear with them? And the opportunity, for example, to take one of them to defend the base and put it in your equipment? Will there be at least a couple more new weapons? And I also have an interesting idea (I understand that there is a special section, but I wanted to write here because it seems to me that the creators of the game look here more often) The idea is that a new item appears, for example: human blood or human meat, and this item can have two functions. 1 function this meat can be eaten by the player himself and lose, for example, intelligence characteristics, but receive new buffs or abilities. Or use meat to create bait to throw it, for example, at bandits or distract the attention of zombies. That's all for now. Thanks I will be glad to receive answers

[Riamus]

46 minutes ago, Izmail said:

Hello everyone, guys. I understand that here we are talking mainly about 22 alphas, I would like to go a little into the future of the alpha in which bandits will appear. The question is, when bandits are introduced into the game, will neutral and friendly NPCs appear with them? And the opportunity, for example, to take one of them to defend the base and put it in your equipment? Will there be at least a couple more new weapons? And I also have an interesting idea (I understand that there is a special section, but I wanted to write here because it seems to me that the creators of the game look here more often) The idea is that a new item appears, for example: human blood or human meat, and this item can have two functions. 1 function this meat can be eaten by the player himself and lose, for example, intelligence characteristics, but receive new buffs or abilities. Or use meat to create bait to throw it, for example, at bandits or distract the attention of zombies. That's all for now. Thanks I will be glad to receive answers

They have not given any indication of NPCs for your base, so it is unlikely.  It is also very unlikely that they will add a cannibalism option for players.  As far as where to post suggestions, the correct forum is recommended. Anything posted here gets lost almost immediately.

[Izmail]

17 hours ago, Riamus said:

They have not given any indication of NPCs for your base, so it is unlikely.  It is also very unlikely that they will add a cannibalism option for players.  As far as where to post suggestions, the correct forum is recommended. Anything posted here gets lost almost immediately.

Understood, thank you very much. By the way, I remember Rick saying a long time ago in the old alphas that he wanted to implement a function with an NPC assistant, I understand that it is unlikely, but let's hope as they say

[Javabean867]

18 hours ago, Riamus said:

They have not given any indication of NPCs for your base, so it is unlikely.  It is also very unlikely that they will add a cannibalism option for players.  As far as where to post suggestions, the correct forum is recommended. Anything posted here gets lost almost immediately.

There technically is cannibalism in the game already.  Hobo stew is made with the rotten flesh, 1 source of it being the dead bodies we carve up throughout  the game. 

[BFT2020]

7 minutes ago, Javabean867 said:

There technically is cannibalism in the game already.  Hobo stew is made with the rotten flesh, 1 source of it being the dead bodies we carve up throughout  the game. 

 

Don't forget cans of sham and sham chowder  😉 

[khzmusik]

6 hours ago, Izmail said:

Understood, thank you very much. By the way, I remember Rick saying a long time ago in the old alphas that he wanted to implement a function with an NPC assistant, I understand that it is unlikely, but let's hope as they say

 

TFP said in the last dev diary that they do not plan to add any more friendly NPCs into the game. The "NPC assistant" is the drone. Human assistants proved too problematic to do in a way that was high quality and would be ready before gold.

 

However, there are mods that add friendly NPCs to the game (look in the Mods section). I can't speak for anyone else, but I plan to keep going with them, including after the game goes gold.

[FramFramson]

1 hour ago, khzmusik said:

 

TFP said in the last dev diary that they do not plan to add any more friendly NPCs into the game. The "NPC assistant" is the drone. Human assistants proved too problematic to do in a way that was high quality and would be ready before gold.

 

However, there are mods that add friendly NPCs to the game (look in the Mods section). I can't speak for anyone else, but I plan to keep going with them, including after the game goes gold.

 

I hope they change on this. I don't necessarily want companions, but we need some neutral humans besides just bandits, or even randoms occasionally hanging out in Traders. Though I suspect that even if they don't, once a bandit framework is in place it'll be a lot easier to add other NPCs.

 

Also, if they're going to do a storyline where you pick a side, then by definition there will HAVE to be some non-hostile, non-trader NPCs.

[vergilsparda]

May be a random question given the current talks about armor (which looks great btw, that's one snazzy looking suit!), but are there any plans in A22 or beyond for updating the Navezgane map to feature bigger or otherwise more 'detailed' towns and cities? It seems so barren compared to random gen maps (but maybe I've been spoiled with the large cities and such!). I know there is a small update coming, adding in like, the updated tiles and the new tunnels and such, but I mean more substantial additions. If not it's cool, just something that's been on my mind.

 

Also, again, if any of the POI builders see this and feel like it, are there any new updates for POIs we can be teased with? Maybe also if there's been any updates to certain block sets that are currently missing all of their pieces (cough, interior wall log cabin blocks, cough)? 👀

[khzmusik]

On 3/7/2024 at 8:16 PM, FramFramson said:

Also, if they're going to do a storyline where you pick a side, then by definition there will HAVE to be some non-hostile, non-trader NPCs.

 

Not necessarily. All they would have to do is to make some of the quests be for Whiteriver folks, and some of the quests be for the Duke. Whichever one you do more of, that's the group you ally with. (I'm going to assume the game will make the quest choices meaningful in-game; for example, Duke quests reward more weapons and armor, and Whiteriver quests reward more medicine, food, books, etc.)

 

In either case, the "end game boss battle" involves fighting enemy NPCs, the only difference being which group you're fighting.

 

No additional friendly NPCs would be required, and I suspect this is the direction TFP are going to go.

[Jost Amman]

2 hours ago, khzmusik said:

No additional friendly NPCs would be required, and I suspect this is the direction TFP are going to go.

Why?

 

The infrastructure for friendly NPCs is already there. It shouldn't be hard for them to crate a few new models/skins and add an interactive dialog to them, similar to the traders.

They don't need to have them fight you or go on quests with you. They just need them to give you faction-tailored quests and items.

[Adam the Waster]

1 hour ago, Jost Amman said:

Why?

 

The infrastructure for friendly NPCs is already there. It shouldn't be hard for them to crate a few new models/skins and add an interactive dialog to them, similar to the traders.

They don't need to have them fight you or go on quests with you. They just need them to give you faction-tailored quests and items.

There doesn't even have to be voice acting, just quite you and somewhat quite npc

[Matt115]

23 hours ago, Adam the Waster said:

I hope we get like a operator armor set, looks like the millitary zombie but more up armord and some personal touches.  Add night vision goggles. 

 

More millitary armor and Mods uses for military fibers 

i hope not for operators because... geez this became overused and... bored. it would be more sense to add national guard soldier

3 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

Why?

 

The infrastructure for friendly NPCs is already there. It shouldn't be hard for them to crate a few new models/skins and add an interactive dialog to them, similar to the traders.

They don't need to have them fight you or go on quests with you. They just need them to give you faction-tailored quests and items.

not realy - there is limit for NPC in 7DTD so - more friendly npc = less zombies

[Jost Amman]

7 minutes ago, Matt115 said:

i hope not for operators because... geez this became overused and... bored. it would be more sense to add national guard soldier

not realy - there is limit for NPC in 7DTD so - more friendly npc = less zombies

You're mistaken. Trader-like NPCs are only active in the limited area (chunks) they're in, and they're "static" (they don't need to move around).

They don't have an AI, so they don't suck up resources because of pathfinding, and so on...

[Morloc]

3 hours ago, Jost Amman said:

They don't have an AI, so they don't suck up resources because of pathfinding, and so on...

 

Trader Jen once helped me out with one of those "and so on" things. Only a tiny bit of resources were ultimately sucked up.


-Arch Necromancer Morloc 💀